The mainstream opinion on this word is that it comes from old uses of the stem balts(“white”) (q.v.) in names of places containing water, giving rise to the name of the Baltic Sea (already LatinMare Balticum); it is possible that *balt- in Old Prussian placenames referred originally to the sea or coastal area. Another suggestion is that LatinMare Balticum is to be derived from Old Norsebalti, Danishbalte, from Latinbalteum(“belt”) (whence GermanBelt(“sea strait”)), perhaps because of this sea's narrowness, or because of the many islands and straits between islands and the continent.[1]